WileyFox's Windows 10 Mobile – yes, you read that correctly – has been delayed again, and will now bump into Santa doing his rounds early.
The catchily named "Wileyfox Pro with Windows 10" phone was announced in August, and WileyFox is sure that it can profit from Microsoft's neglect of its Windows phone customers. Over at the …

SIM-only contracts are now the most popular kind of mobile deal in the UK, as punters step off the tedious upgrade treadmill.
Retail watcher GfK estimates that SIM-only contracts now account for 29 per cent of the UK phone market. Almost half, or 44 per cent, stayed with their network, but moved from another deal to SIM Only ( …

Analysis
In recent years, China's high-tech production miracle and globalisation have made it easy – perhaps too easy – for an outsider or newcomer to dabble in hardware.
The ease of producing hardware with your brand on it might have been too seductive, tempting companies into doing the rest of the operation on the cheap. There's more …

I have a confession: I've fallen out of love with Bring Your Own Device.
Over the years, I've worked with, and administered, a number of BYOD schemes. I've even written positive things about BYOD.
After all, what was not to love? Users providing the mobile equipment and the company not needing to worry about maintaining the …

Oxford researchers reckon they've spotted the next emerging trend in Android advertising (and possibly malware): using common libraries to “collude” between apps with different privilege levels.
Libraries are a common enough vector for attackers to target, but the trio of boffins (Vincent Taylor, Alastair Beresford and Ivan …

The European Parliament has recommended better consumer product protection, asking that durable products be durable and repairable by independent workshops.
It's not a fait accompli for the right to repair: it's up to member states and the European Commission to put the recommendations into effect.
At a plenary session in …

A family is suing Apple after their five-year-old daughter was killed by a driver allegedly distracted at the wheel with a FaceTime call on his iPhone.
On Christmas Eve, 2014, the Modisette family was driving down Interstate 35W in Texas when a car accident up ahead brought traffic to a standstill. They stopped, but behind …

Falling sales, burning batteries – but not everything associated with smartphones is bad
The market for used phones is exploding by comparison, according to analyst IDC.
IDC predicts that sales of used smartphones will hit 222.6 million units by 2020, a compound annual growth of 22.3 per cent.
The used-phone market will be …

Review
British startup WileyFox has made the best "for around £150"* phone since the first Moto G shook up the market for low-cost smartphones back in 2013. There are two models, the Swift 2 at £159 (list) and dual SIM Swift 2+ at £189 (list), both the same size. I tested the "Plus size" here. Both variants have a fingerprint sensor …

Black Hat EU
Security researchers have worked out how to hack into a smartphone and turn it into a tracking device by abusing its pairing with a Belkin home automation device.
Joe Tanen and Scott Tenaglia of Invincea Labs were able to root a WeMo device before injecting code into the WeMo Android app from a compromised WeMo device. The …

Perhaps more airlines could install more phone pockets on seats: two more instances have emerged of crushed smartphones putting aircraft at risk.
The news comes from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is warning that passengers on flights have to take better care of their phones.
Descending into London on …

Hands-on Review
Available for order this week, BlackBerry’s penultimate own-brand phone is a luxurious but light big sibling to its DTEK50. That was the first to marry a reference design, from TCL, to BlackBerry’s own “hardened” Android. The DTEK60 – not a name that rolls off the tongue – also uses BlackBerry’s Android, but aims for the …

Pics
Chinese tech maker LeEco (pronounced Le Echo) has made its entrance into the US market – with a lavish press conference in San Francisco that showed the Middle Kingdom isn't afraid to take on some of the biggest names in technology.
The giant unveiled a high-spec smartphone that massively undercuts rivals Apple, Samsung, and …

Review
Not so long ago, the idea of buying an operator-branded phone would have filled most people with horror. For years these were typically budget feature phones for skint punters, too time-poor to do their own homework.
Vodafone Smart Ultra 7 . From vodafone uk website
But then a couple of years ago, EE introduced its Kestrel, …

Uni eggheads have stolen 3D printing designs by monitoring the acoustic and electromagnetic signatures of a printer in action using a nearby smartphone.
The team, based at the University at Buffalo in New York state, used a Nexus 5 to eavesdrop on production. The mobe uses a Qualcomm WCD9320 audio codec and Asahi Kasei 3D …

Hands on
Huawei might be the third biggest smartphone seller on the planet but it has very little traction outside Asia. The Chinese firm is hoping the Honor 8 will change that.
The handset, which was launched in the US last week and will be formally launched in Europe at an event in Paris on Wednesday, is being aimed firmly at the …

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Gionee has released a device with a dedicated encryption chip it calls "equivalent to a black box" that offers the "most advanced" mobile data protection to date.
Experts we asked were sceptical about the claims, which at minimum show that improved security is becoming a differentiator in the …